In this paper the author studies dubbing practices in Germany. The aim is to reveal to what extent contextual restraint on the translation and other factors inherent in dubbing result in specific features that could be regarded as characteristic of dubbed text. Dubbing practices seem to vary in different countries so no general conclusions as to the nature of dubbed language are aimed at. Only German is considered as a target language. Furthermore, the author does not claim that the features he lists can be found in any film dubbed into German, but he argues that they are at least typical of dubbed material of a particular genre that makes up a considerable proportion of the programmes shown on German television and that obtains peak viewing rates.